South On Ventura BLVD

I came to LA in 2000. I had been trying to make it out to the Valley for years. I finally made it. YAY.....I escaped The Harbor jail.

South on Ventura BLVD

 

My late night strolls on Ventura  

different from my Pacific avenue treks.

More investigation then self-purification.

 

Since I have been to the valley, long gone are the stenches.

Long gone is the deifying silence.

Long gone is the hopelessness draped in dark three am curtains.

My human hamster cage called the harbor city is as a misty memory.

I guess I remember it as one would remember a private flogging.

It seemed horrible before it happen.

 

Painful was the act.

Afterward a faded thought yet visceral enough never wanted to be repeated.

Yoga parlors, Ethnic food places and frozen yogurt parlors have replaced

 The bars, ninety-nine cent stores and bodegas serving the best B rated Mexican cuisine.

 

My eyes have seen enough.

Pupil still stained with overcast harbor nights.

The gum ravaged sidewalks.

The fragrance of vagabond urine greets me at every alley juncture.

The characters replaced by empty charming streets.

Every once in a while I am greeted by a slowed patrol car.

I glance into the stores I cannot afford.

Peek into the bistros with meals I will not sample.

That place seems to good for the likes of me.

 

Yet I am happy.

Here I am.

I have arrived.

Still breathing.

Still alive.

The demons are at the end of the 110.

One day I will eat in that over priced Greek café

The one down the street

 

Author's Note

I really like the comment and the the conversation via comments. I think that what writing should do, create conversation. I like to hear the comment but I really like to find out where fellow writers head are-

Reviews

[realmwriter]

I am currently in Las Vegas Nevada and as one can safely assume, they do not call it "Sin City" for nothing. I am constantly assualted by images of sex and alchol and more than enough gambling than my eyes can fully digest. I am amungst some of the most fablous and most opulant resturuants in the world and I can afford not one. I fall asleep every night to the sound of mechanical fireflys overhead and the bleating calls of yet another frantic dialing of 911 to rapidly deploy an emergancy vehical or come to the rescue of an assualt victom. I have been honcked at and sneered at more than I care to continue to ignore and I do believe that this city is making me become more and more bitter every day that I am with in its bounds.
Though I may be broke and can experiance none of the finer things this city has to offer I still find that I wish to return to it one day and sample of its kindness because through all of the gestures and insinuations this City of Sin has thrown my way I have also seen and experianced a kindness that I could not nor would not have guessed exsisted in such a surounding as this.
I have been assualted by Las Vegas and I must say that I Love It...!

[Rikkevi Rue]

like chandler...or maybe a confidential LA write, the throb of this place echos in your words. lived at the end of the 110 myself so know what that is about, had a house in Rolling Hills so looked down on it all, hung all over the valley...def more airy. Must be all those orchards that got paved over and still peek out between apartment buildings. LA is that concatenation that scrambles the wealthy together with the most downtrodden, the stars are driving the same streets as the gangsters and the hookers, and the medium all that is spread across is the common people. If you've walked among it all and it rubbed off then you have it under your skin or like a smell that doesn't wash off but you gotta go back another time just to be sure it really had that peculiar scent...hello brother.

[daydreamer]

I agree with you totally. beautiful nostalgic write;0

[Scandalous]

I agree with you, writing should be like conversation and this captures what most writers try to do their whole lives. Great work

~ Scandalous

[Amila Jay]

Awesome write!!

[Livana Lowell]

Dear Judas Hammer,

This line "My human hamster cage called the harbor city is as a misty memory" was a bit confusing. I didn't understand what that said. Also, change "happen" to "happened."

Besides that, I found this to be uplifting and positive. Obtaining one's dreams takes hope, persistent, and appreciation for the stepping stones. I liked the negative first, boiling down to something positive. I felt this was real, and related to me very much. It shows that in reaching to achieve our dreams, we must accept the hardships come along the way.

Thank you for sharing.

Sincerely Livana Lowell (LL)

God bless

[The Analog Kid]

The monologue works well here for what you are trying to convey. "The demons are at the end of the 110." Nice.

[Richard Anthony Goulart]

This is an excellent piece of art and I think that I am going to be pleased to read more from you.

[Ursula Kay Vos]

I like this piece. Your work is always a great read. It does read a bit more like a story int the second and third stanzas but being a free verse, that doesn't really matter :) The way you put the poems and your stories together is part of the draw to your writing. You are not the roses are red type of conforming poet, not that there is anything wrong with that, just to say that you are unique and you have a style that is all your own. It has the element of where you came from and then the glimpse of hope at the end. Never will you be crushed although you have fallen you always get back up! That would be the other draw, at least for me. You have a resiliant factor in everything I have read.
I enjoyed this piece. Some of the verses were long, but again, that is your style :)
Great write
Collette

[Jeremy Baker]

There seems to be a nihilistic and despairing tone threaded throughout this poem, which is really well executed. Liked it!